Rehearsal Diary – Day 5

With a full assortment of interviews from Wednesday having been transcribed and a clear idea of where we would like the residents to expand, we entered into our second round of interviews with optimism and excitement.

Two of the three groups visited with another two residents. My group again met with Muriel, a woman whose life contained memories from riding on a fashioned saddle on the crossbar of her father’s bike to school to sliding down her driveway, much to her grandmother’s dismay, during icy winters. An overarching theme that I kept noticing was the dramatic contrast between my complete lack of ability to relate to some of her stories, like that of her mother, whose family lived with no running water or electricity, and my absolute familiarity with others like that of her sister, who always cheekily “borrowed” her clothes, leading to many arguments between them. It fascinated me that while the past seems this alien idea that modern individuals cannot link themselves to, certain experiences and emotions are timeless and truly universal.

After finishing our interviews, we headed for a debrief, where we shared about our experiences, celebrated successful moments, and recognized challenges to work through in the coming days.

I learned a lot from these people and through their stories, universal truths about family, sense of self, and relationships we have to one another. I cannot wait to see what’s to come.